GPS and cell phones monitor African elephants in real time

July 16, 2014

UBC’s Jake Wall has developed a tracking system to help protect African elephants. Photo courtesy of Jake Wall.

A UBC PhD student has built a sophisticated tracking system that collects, analyzes and reports on the activities of nearly 100 African elephants in an effort to protect these threatened animals and understand their movement patterns.

The tracking system allows real-time visualization of animal movements on Google Earth, providing near instantaneous observation of an animal’s GPS location. Data are recorded by an animal’s tracking collar and transmitted via satellite or a local cell phone network to reveal movement patterns while high-resolution satellite imagery offers insight into their behaviour.

The real-time monitoring system described in the paper has enhanced security for threatened elephants by identifying poaching events. It has also kept elephants out of areas where they are not welcome, such as farmers’ fields, and identified injured elephants allowing for rapid medical response.

VIDEO: Watch conservation agents use the technology to protect elephants.

“GPS, GSM and satellite phone technologies are rapidly becoming the pen and paper of animal field biologists. The GPS trail of an animal, combined with data from satellite imagery and other remote sensors, can give us a detailed picture of where the animal is, what it is doing and what it might be experiencing.”

“Tracking of elephants has helped lift the veil on the secrets of elephant lives over the last few decades. This novel integration of smartphone technology has allowed movement data to leap from the realm of applied research into a vital conservation tool that is used daily by anti-poaching forces.”